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Job Introduction

We have an exciting opportunity for a Social Worker to join our team covering the picturesque district of the Staffordshire Moorlands, in one our Assessment & Staying Together Teams based in Staffordshire Moorlands.

Our Social Workers make a huge difference to the lives of people across our county. They take pride in supporting children and families and we’re equally proud to help them give their best in whatever ways we can.

That’s why you can expect everything from agile and flexible working options to exceptional learning and development if you join our team. You can also expect our commitment to creating the best service we can.

Working with us means collaborating across our different teams, and sharing best practice, knowledge, and experience to continually improve the way we do things.

We are a small but supportive and welcoming team who share excellent relationships with our district colleagues in Early Help, SEND, Education, Children with Disabilities and we are co located with our Children in Care and Care Leavers Team. We very much embed a restorative model and are committed to ensuring that every child is supported through a whole district approach.

We recognise our social workers want to have the time to do what they do best, spending time supporting children and families and so we have built into our structure dedicated PA support to our Social Workers so you can spend more doing the work that matters most.

We also know you’ll want to continually develop in your role and potentially progress your career and that why we have created a great training and development opportunities ensuring your individual growth here at Staffordshire.

A career progression framework is in place to support you which also includes:

• Practice Educator Programme.
• Aspiring Social Work Practice Lead and Aspiring Team Manager programmes.
• We are ambitious in our learning and development programme with strong links within the West Midlands and our teaching partnership.

For more information on working in at Staffordshire and our social worker career pathway, please visit Children & Families - Careers at Staffordshire.

Please note that there is currently an ongoing review within Children and Families directorate to realign individual teams and the wider team’s ways of working. As a result, this role may be affected by the review. For further information, please speak to the hiring manager.

Main Responsibilities

As a Social Worker, you will be:

You will be working with families across the continuum of need from Child in Need, Child Protection, Children in Care, through to the conclusion of Care Proceedings and Adoption planning.

You will be responsible for:

• Completing your statutory duties in co ordinating the child’s plan, reviewing and ensuring that our children are seen and heard.
• Undertaking section 47 investigations.
• Undertaking placement of children into Local Authority care when it is agreed they can no longer remain at home.
• Completing of both Private law reports and Public law proceedings.
• Referring into our centralised services for specialist support/ services.
• Liaising with all key agencies and making necessary referrals.
• Working closely and co working with our Early Help colleagues.
• Uploading all visits, child’s plans and assessments in a timely manner in line with the Local Authority's recording policy

The Ideal Candidate

It is essential you have:

• Qualified Social Worker which would include having worked within a children's social work team
• Experience of working with complex and traumatised children and young people
• Experience of direct work with children
• Registered with Social Work England
• Have a current UK driving licence and vehicle

But above all, you will bring the desire to work with children and families to give them the right support, at the right time with the aim of keeping and bringing families back together where it is safe to do so.

For more information about this vacancy please contact Alison Machin at alison.machin@staffordshire.gov.uk

Interviews will be held: Week commencing 7 September

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role. Please note: The minimum essential criteria in the ideal candidate section detailed above will be used if you are applying under one of our Interview Guarantee Schemes detailed below.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.